Liquor and Music

In absolute agreement with you. Agreat listening session for me is a couple beers and something a little stiffer on the rocks. I am a smoker and don't smoke in the house so I am banished to a little screened in room off the back of my house and it is here I do most of my headphone listening. My favorite type of music in this state is jazz....picking out an insturment and conentrating on that alone thru the recordings. Bottoms Up!!!!!!!

I'm kind of the opposite - if I've had a couple of glasses of wine, my tinnitus seems to kick-in and I will enjoy the sound much less.  

I have found that 2 *more* glasses of wine tends to make it better.  The tinnitus doesn't go away, but I just don't care about it anymore...  

At 50 years old I have had a long relationship with music and altered musical states. In the 1970s there was nothing better than to see Rush play 2112 live in concert with a little mental modification. 

At home I spent some of my favorite times listening to headphones and drinking beer. Anymore though I find it very hard to really get drunk. It is one of these things where I like to be in control all the time and after too much drinking I start to feel that I'm loosing control so I slow down. 

The great part about moderation is I don't have hangovers anymore. I still enjoy drinking but end up limiting myself.

There is almost a place you can get to straight which is 50% of where you are listening to music drinking. That practice is to get yourself to a slightly altered mental state with no drinking. It takes practice, but  in the end there is no replacement to how someone feels when they are in "the zone" after a substantial amount of drinks.

I don't think there's anything wrong with people enjoying music and some alcohol as long as they don't do themselves damage (such as by turning music up too loudly), or hurting others. I've had a lot of fun in the past having a few drinks and listening to music myself, but noticed that when I did I tended to turn up the volume quite a bit. 

 

I would recommend moderation with volume levels and with levels of alcohol consumption, but I'm obviously not telling anyone what to do. To get to the point where we know we are doing ourselves damage and not caring about it to me indicates that our common sense is not in effect.

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redcarmoose 

At 50 years old I have had a long relationship with music and altered musical states. In the 1970s there was nothing better than to see Rush play 2112 live in concert with a little mental modification. 

 

At home I spent some of my favorite times listening to headphones and drinking beer. Anymore though I find it very hard to really get drunk. It is one of these things where I like to be in control all the time and after too much drinking I start to feel that I'm loosing control so I slow down. 

 

The great part about moderation is I don't have hangovers anymore. I still enjoy drinking but end up limiting myself.

There is almost a place you can get to straight which is 50% of where you are listening to music drinking. That is the mental practice is to get yourself to a slightly altered mental state with no drinking. It takes practice and in the end there is truly no replacement to how someone feels when they are in "the zone" after a substantial amount of drinking.

Though people can feel in the zone when intoxicated, people don't need alcohol to get in the zone. To me the zone is just a state of having no personal thinking i.e. being present fully in the now, and there's nothing we need to do to 'get there'.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Windsor 

 

Though people can feel in the zone when intoxicated, people don't need alcohol to get in the zone. To me the zone is just a state of having no personal thinking i.e. being present fully in the now, and there's nothing we need to do to 'get there'.

I still have to differ with your opinion feeling that unless your a guru it may be very hard to reach that euphoric state without a little help. I also seem to be amazed that the older I get, the less high I seem to get, and the more control I always seem to have over my thought patterns. I will never forget not being able to walk after a 6-pack at 16 years old! 

There is maybe about 50% to 80% of all rock that I don't think would exist if the performers could make the music "straight". There is just something about the mental state which connects man to the other levels of creativity. It is not without a price to be paid. 

If you look at many tribal rituals through out history you will find that some type of substance was used to "get there". It is in many ways parallel to kids today going to concerts and taking risks as a sort of right of passage, giving them a new level of priceless education to pass on threw life with. What does not kill you makes you stronger. The only sad part of this is the many who, just by the duality of nature, fall into fatal car wrecks and commit crimes against humanity threw the use of such substances. These substances take wisdom and tend to be a double edge sword which can be too powerful in the wrong hands.

All around us we see adults who are living with the decisions they made as teens, some for the good and some for the bad. I would think that most kids make it threw and learn to control themselves. There is the reality too as to what truly would have happened to those who should have been more careful, this is the price mankind pays and explorers have always failed in an attempt to reach new worlds. It is in discovery that some folks reach greatness!

Quote:

Originally Posted by JmanOfIsrael 

I agree with you in that it doesn't take alcohol to get me to this state. It is just that it is difficult for me to get to this level of appreciation when I haven't had anything to drink (it is possible). More or less, it is that every time I drink I am able to attain this level  no matter the situation which is something special in itself.

 

I also believe that Redcarmoose is saying that we will eventually be able to attain this special state of mind without alcohol or drugs. It is something that comes with experience. It makes me envious of the experienced yet excited to be young and undergo this "adventure" of musical enlightenment.

There's no eventually when it comes to attaining a state of mind when we are fully present, and there's nothing special about it. It's the most ordinary thing there is but yet can be very rare in this day and age. Young children are in that state a lot of the time and as our personal thinking develops as we progress through life, we forget. But this moment is always available to all of us, all the time and appears every time our minds get quiet, which happens naturally. 

This clear state-of-mind is not just for listening to music, but can be the basis of our whole experience of life.

I'm more than happy to talk about this with you more if you message me. Pointing people towards true happiness is one of the things I love to do most. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by JmanOfIsrael 

Sorry to hear (no pun intended!). Since I am trying to avoid tennitus what would you recommend to lower my chances or is it something that just naturally onsets as I will age?

I don't want to derail this thread, so I'll keep this short.  I believe mine is a combination of genetics (my father had tinnitus & profound hearing loss starting at a young age), my own misspent youth of rock concerts and firearms without hearing protection and age (I turned 50 last year).  I really don't know anything about prevention or treatment - I have learned to live with it - for now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redcarmoose 

 

I still have to differ with your opinion feeling that unless your a guru it may be very hard to reach that euphoric state without a little help. I also seem to be amazed that the older I get, the less high I seem to get, and the more control I always seem to have over my thought patterns. I will never forget not being able to walk after a 6-pack at 16 years old! 

 

There is maybe about 50% to 80% of all rock that I don't think would exist if the performers could make the music "straight". There is just something about the mental state which connects man to the other plains of creativity. It is not without a price to be paid. 

 

If you look at many tribal rituals through out history you will find that some type of substance was used to "get there". It is in many ways parallel to kids today going to concerts and taking risks as a sort of right of passage, giving them a new level of priceless education to pass on threw life with. What does not kill you makes you stronger. The only sad part of this is the many who, just by the duality of nature, fall into fatal car wreaks and commit crimes against humanity threw the use of such substances. These substances take wisdom and tend to be a double edge sword which can be too powerful in the wrong hands.

 

All around us we see adults who are living with the decisions they made as teens, some for the good and some for the bad. I would think that most kids make it threw and learn to control themselves. There is the reality too as to what truly would have happened to those who should have been more careful,   

this is the price mankind pays and explorers have always failed in an attempt to reach new worlds. It is in discovery that some folks reach greatness!

I completely agree that much of the world's great music has been made by people on substances (Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley for example), but that zone of infinite creativity is with us all the time and can be accessed without the use of substances. We are that zone of infinite creativity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by billybob_jcv 

I don't want to derail this thread, so I'll keep this short.  I believe mine is a combination of genetics (my father had tinnitus & profound hearing loss starting at a young age), my own misspent youth of rock concerts and firearms without hearing protection and age (I turned 50 last year).  I really don't know anything about prevention or treatment - I have learned to live with it - for now.

I have played drums for around 15 years and in my early days didn't wear hearing protection. These days I do detect a subtle ringing in my ears when I am quiet and focus on it. In terms of prevention, I have found wearing hearing protection e.g. earplugs when attending concerts to make a huge difference in minimising ringing in my ears. I have also found that moderating my music-listening levels has made a big difference. 

I read that hearing damage can be caused when listening to music for an hour at 85 dB or over (there are a few threads on head-fi and the internet with more info on that) and I have recently adjusted my listening levels to between 70 and 80 dB. Such low-volume listening may take a little bit of getting used to if you are used to louder levels, but I find it very enjoyable. FYI: you can measure the dB level of your headphones by placing a dB meter inside one of your headphone's cups and adjusting your amp's volume accordingly; if you have an iPhone there is an app called UE SPL which is available for free or jet a few pennies.

Happy safe listening! :)

I love drinking, and I love listening to music, so why not combine the two? 

There's nothing quite like sipping a nice single malt while listening to your favourite tunes.