I’m not sure if this has ever been posted, but most of us have heard stories of Alan Ginsberg really liking Srila Prabhupada and chanting Hare Krishna. He was actually chanting Hare Krishna before he met Srila Prabhupada. He went to India and heard the maha-mantra and it stuck with him. When he met the devotees in 1966, he immediately took to Srila Prabhupada, though they didn’t always agree in everything.

Even so, Ginsberg would donate money and even the use of his harmonium to Srila Prabhupada.

Ginsberg even brought the maha-mantra to Robert Kennedy. When seeing Kennedy about other maters (relating to the Feds possibly planting drugs in Ginsberg’s apartment), he told Bobby:

“Oh, there’s something I forgot. I was going to sing you a little song.” He said, “Okay, I got a minute.” So I sang about eight verses of Hare Krsna mantra and he said, “What’s that?” And I said, “When you hear this, it’s supposed to bring immediate liberation.” So he said, “Well, the guy up the block needs it more than I do,” pointing up to the White House when Johnson was running the Vietnam war. That was Kennedy’s introduction to Hare Krsna.

In 1967, Ginsberg met Srila Prabhupada at the San Francisco airport and helped organize the Mantra Rock Festival.

When Ginsberg was in the hospital in 1968, Srila Prabhupada wrote him a letter hoping that he recovers and to (of course) keep chanting Hare Krishna.

They had long talks in Columbus, Ohio in 1969, which have been recorded and transcribed for posterity.

The devotees tried a couple of times to set up another such meeting, but it never came to be. Srila Prabhupada would usually speak fondly of Ginsberg and explain that though he isn’t really following, at least he is chanting Hare Krishna.

A few years ago, I came across a record recorded by The Fugs called Tenderness Junction. The Fugs were sort of the first punk band – not so much in sound as in attitude. But they were friends with Alan Ginsberg and often performed together.

The Fugs, in 1966, met Srila Prabhupada and liked the philosophy well enough – except for the “no illicit sex” parts.

In early 1968, The Fugs released Tenderness Junction on Reprise Records. On it was Alan Ginsberg singing “Hare Krishna.” Prabhupada was glad that Ginsberg was chanting, but thought his chant too complex for the new devotees. By today’s standards, Ginsberg’s Hare Krishna is a very simple melody.

Check it out.

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Or download it here.

Here’s a band that doesn’t exactly spring to mind when someone says “Krishnacore.” Refused to Fall were a Houston, TX-based band. They got together in 1989 and lasted about six years.

Their Soulfire 7″ was Equal Vision Record’s second release (anyone remember what the first was?). It came out in 1991.

In ‘93, they toured with Shelter and 108. Upon returning home, they broke up. A Houston label put out another 7″ (The Stalemate Sessions) of theirs in 1994, but the band was still broken up. However, in 1996, they reformed to play a Shelter show and record a third EP (this time on CD) called Grey.

There was no lasting reunion, however, the band broke up and went their separate ways.

You can read more than you’ve ever wanted to know about them here.

Refuse to Fall – Soulfire 7″
Side one

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1) Temporary Eye
2) When the Well Runs Dry

Side two
1) Soulfire
2) Salvation

Download it here!

You can also hear more on MySpace.

Idol Water is the last of the three Krishnacore demos that I have. They were a project headed by Mikey Prema in between the first and second (last) Prema CDs.

While I was visiting the Philly temple in ‘94 or ‘95, I took Mikey and a couple of other kids (presumably from Idol Water) back to wherever the lived. Along the way, they played their demo. I really dug it and asked them for a copy. At some point, I got one (I don’t remember how).

Other than it being a Prema spin-off, I don’t know much about Idol Water at all.

Musically, this demo is varied. The first song is a Shelter-esque rap song. There’s a definite Dag Nasty feel to “Peg Above the Rest.” And “Jasmine” is a fun song about deity worship (I think).

The last song is a fun and slightly messed up tribute to Nrsmha Prayers with a “RIP HIS GUTS OUT!” refrain.

The bit at the end of the demo is Bhakta Avatar’s kid, Visnu, telling you to chant Hare Krishna.

Overall, the quality is better than the other demos, but it’s not bad. I might still have the original tape somewhere. Someday I’ll rerecord this to digital.

Track listing:

1) Machine II
2) Chew Toy

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3) Fire
4) Peg Above the Rest

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5) Jasmine
6) Nrsimhadeva

Download the whole thing here.

Weirdly enough, I have no idea how I came to own the unreleased 108 demo. Apparently, it was never released. But you know how devotees are, we’ll bootleg anything and everything. I think I got it around the same time that I got the Prema demo.

I remember telling Ekendra (from Shelter, now of Planet Cow) that I got the 108 demo. He told me that he played drums on it and that it was basically just him and Vraja. I believe Ekendra played bass as well. Vraja played guitar and did the vocals.

From an interview with Rasaraja (Rob Fish, 108’s vocalist after the demo was recorded):

After I had been living in the Philly temple for about three months Vraja Kishor prabhu had quit Inside Out and joined Shelter. The Shelter decided to move to the Philly temple. Me and Vraja became friends. Eventually he wanted to do something different then Shelter and he wrote some songs and made a demo. 108 actually played a few songs at a show with Ressurection (1993). The day after the show Vraja called and asked me to sing for 108. The band was Vraja, me, Zack Eller (Worlds Collide) and Ekendra dasa (the drummer of Shelter). We recorded Holyname a few months later.

The demo was in 1993 some time but it never came out. The songs were rerecorded as the Holyname record.

The demo is basically the 108 Holyname 12″. The song “Noonenomore” was held over for their second 12″, Songs of Separation.

The sound quality on this is exceptionally crappy. Sorry about that. I can’t imagine it was great to begin with, it was recorded in the basement of the Philly temple, I think.

Track listing:

1) Holyname > Grow > Gopinatha
2) Hopeless
3) Noonenomore

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Download the whole demo here.

I mentioned Krishnacore in a post last week. Yesterday I was going through my harddrive and came across three demos from Krishnacore bands. So I thought that it might be fun to share. Be warned, the sound quality on these is pretty crappy. These were the first things I ever converted from tape to digital. Someday I’ll redo them maybe. But for now, this is it.

The first demo up is from Prema. Prema was from Philly. I joined up and they were at the temple a lot, though I don’t think they lived there just yet. They were fronted by Mikey Prema and I dug them a lot more than Shelter.

In reviews they were pretty well written off as a Shelter rip off band, but their sound was a lot different. Some folks said that it had a Dag Nasty feel, but I never noticed that.

I can’t remember where I got the demo. It might have been from Erica (now Ekavali), she was friends with them. I never had the original, only a dubbed copy.

The demo had eight songs on it, which is WAY too long for a demo (their first official release only had six songs on it). I think some of the songs were rerecorded Concerned songs (Prema before they became devotees).

A couple of years later, Prema changed their sound, dropped the Krishna image and soon after, stopped being devotees. I saw Mikey Prema at a show in Lewisburg, PA. He was hanging out with some lame drug band and he was stoned out of his mind. I said hello, of course, but he couldn’t hold a conversation. He had long and very badly died blue hair. I wonder where he is now.

But this was recorded in 1993, long before all of that. They were probably 15 or 16 then. Young, idealistic and kicking ass. But ‘93 was 15 years ago. Freaky.

Tracklist:

1) Deceived

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2) In the End
3) Shattered
4) Condition Classified
5) The Truth
6) Known
7) Blanket
8) Destiny

Download the whole demo here.

I was just checking my MySpace page and came across a show flyer. Now, that’s not such a big deal. But this one was for Shelter, 108 and Prema at the Unisound in 1991ish.

Now, the Unisound was a hardcore club in Reading, PA run by Jake Hain, or “Jake Unisound” as we knew him. I went there in ‘92 and ‘93, my band Lawn Dart Casualties even played there a few times. I saw Mucky Pup and a few others. Yeah, I know, Mucky Pup.

Somehow I missed all the good shows. I never saw Shelter or 108. In fact, I missed the whole Krishnacore thing. I was around while it was happening, but wasn’t really involved. That’s not how I got involved in Krishna Consciousness. Lots of folks did. A lot of great devotees came from the Krishnacore scene. Some are still around today. Most of them are probably in Alachua by now!

When I first joined up, I hung out with the guys from Prema at the Philly temple. Ray and Porcell were there too. It was weird, I was in the hardcore scene, but by the time I decided to become a devotee, I was mostly not involved. I never wanted to sell everything and join a temple, but I did want to focus more on Krishna consciousness. Oddly enough, I never developed PDS (Pure Devotee Syndrome). Came close a few times, but did my best to thwart it.

Seeing these Unisound flyers again brought this all back. I haven’t even thought about the Unisound for years now. I wish I still had the flyer with my band on it. I played one of the shows on crutches. Ah the determination of a young kid hepped up on punk rock!

It’s odd for a devotee my age to not have joined through the scene and I’ve always felt a bit out of place, not being one of the kids in baggy shorts, bead bag and vans jumping off the stage at the Unisound while Raghunatha chanted “Hare Krishna” during “Saranagati.” I never saw Vraja Kishor in his langi flipping out while Rob Fish screamed “Gauranga!”

I did see Prema though. It was in Erie in 1994 or 95. They played with Brother’s Keeper and Deckard. I remember being disappointed. By that time, the Krishnacore wave had crested and it was all but over.

Here’s a bit of a Shelter set from 1990. It’s not at the Unisound, but it’s from that era.

This is the last of what I have of the “KT” series. I believe that there are several more, but I don’t have them.

I hope you enjoy this one.

Benediction Moon — Bengali Bhajans at Mayapur Festival, 1976

1. Ohe! Vaisnava Thakura
2. Hare Krsna
3. Krsna Kin-ka Nam Hai
4. Hare Krsna

Click here to download. (99MB)