IN: Terence Kemp McKenna (November 16, 1946 - April 3, 2000) was an American ethnobotanist, mystic, psychonaut, lecturer, author, and an advocate for the responsible use of naturally occurring psychedelic plants. He spoke and wrote about a variety of subjects, including psychedelic drugs, plant-based entheogens, shamanism, metaphysics, alchemy, language, philosophy, culture, technology, environmentalism, and the theoretical origins of human consciousness. He was called the "Timothy Leary of the '90s", "one of the leading authorities on the ontological foundations of shamanism", and the "intellectual voice of rave culture". McKenna formulated a concept about the nature of time based on fractal patterns he claimed to have discovered in the I Ching, which he called novelty theory, proposing this predicted the end of time in the year 2012.

In 1965, McKenna enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley and was accepted into the Tussman Experimental College. In 1967, while in college, he discovered and began studying shamanism through the study of Tibetan folk religion. That same year, which he called his "opium and kabbala phase" he traveled to Jerusalem, where he met Kathleen Harrison, who would later become his wife.  In 1969, McKenna traveled to Nepal led by his interest in Tibetan painting and hallucinogenic shamanism. He sought out shaman of the Bon tradition, which predated Tibetan Buddhism, trying to learn more about the shamanic use of visionary plants. During his time there, he also studied the Tibetan language and worked as a hashish smuggler, until "one of his Bombay-to-Aspen shipments fell into the hands of U. S. Customs." He then wandered through southeast Asia viewing ruins, and spent time as a professional butterfly collector in Indonesia.  After the partial completion of his studies, and his mother's death from cancer in 1971, McKenna, his brother Dennis, and three friends traveled to the Colombian Amazon in search of oo-koo-he, a plant preparation containing dimethyltryptamine (DMT).  Instead of oo-koo-he they found fields full of gigantic Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms, which became the new focus of the expedition. In La Chorrera, at the urging of his brother, McKenna was the subject of a psychedelic experiment in which the brothers attempted to bond harmine (harmine is another psychedelic compound they used synergistically with the mushrooms) with their own neural DNA, through the use of a set specific vocal techniques. They hypothesised this would give them access to the collective memory of the human species, and would manifest the alchemists' Philosopher's Stone which they viewed as a "hyperdimensional union of spirit and matter". McKenna claimed the experiment put him in contact with "Logos": an informative, divine voice he believed was universal to visionary religious experience. The voice's reputed revelations and his brother's simultaneous peculiar psychedelic experience prompted him to explore the structure of an early form of the I Ching, which led to his "Novelty Theory". During their stay in the Amazon, McKenna also became romantically involved with his interpreter, Ev.  In 1972, McKenna returned to U.C. Berkeley to finish his studies and in 1975, he graduated with a degree in ecology, shamanism, and conservation of natural resources. In the autumn of 1975, after parting with his girlfriend Ev earlier in the year, McKenna began a relationship with his future wife and the mother of his two children, Kathleen Harrison.  Soon after graduating, McKenna and Dennis published a book inspired by their Amazon experiences, The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens and the I Ching. The brothers' experiences in the Amazon would later be the main focus of McKenna's book True Hallucinations, published in 1993. McKenna also began lecturing locally around Berkeley and started appearing on some underground radio stations.

when did he go to the Amazon?

OUT: in 1971, McKenna, his brother Dennis, and three friends traveled to the Colombian Amazon in search of oo-koo-he,


IN: Johnny Young (born Johnny Benjamin de Jong; 12 March 1947) is a Dutch Australian singer, composer, record producer, disc jockey, television producer and host. Originally from the Netherlands, his family settled in Perth, Western Australia in the early 1950s. Young had a career in the 1960s as a pop singer and had a number one hit with the double-A-side, "Step Back" and "Cara-lyn" in 1966, and his profile was enhanced by a concurrent stint as host of the TV pop program The Go!!

In 1970, Young formed a production company with Kevin Lewis (former Festival Records executive), Lewis-Young Productions, which developed the pop music television show Happening '70 - hosted by Wyllie - for the ATV-0 channel, it was subsequently followed by Happening '71 and Happening '72. Lewis-Young Productions also developed Young Talent Time from April 1971, a children's variety show and talent quest with Young as host. Regular cast members were known as the Young Talent Team, the show was a launching pad for several Australian performers including Jamie Redfern, Debra Byrne, Dannii Minogue and Tina Arena. The directors were Garry Dunstan and Terry Higgins. Each episode typically ended with Young and the team singing "All My Loving" as a lullaby. Young established the Johnny Young Talent School for performance arts in 1979, some of its students became contestants and regulars on Young Talent Time. 2004 Australian Idol runner-up Anthony Callea trained with the school, as did the 2008 winner, Wes Carr.  As well as producing the television series, Lewis-Young Productions distributed related merchandise including records on their own label (L&Y), books and magazines, a board game and a set of chewing gum cards. In 1972, Caravan Holiday, a short film, featured the original six Young Talent Team members plus two recently recruited new members, Greg Mills(later to be musical director in last years of YTT) and Julie Ryles (who died in early 2011) with cameos by pop star Johnny Farnham and long term judge Evie Hayes. Young was cast in multiple cameo roles as a service station attendant, farmer, speed boat attendant and camping park manager.  In 1989, Ten Network (formerly ATV-0), axed Young Talent Time quoting poor ratings against the popular variety series Hey Hey Its Saturday. Young had committed to building his own television studios to film Young Talent Time and was forced to sell his family home to finance the debts. During the year his stepfather died and, with his mother, he tracked down his biological father. Soon after his mother also died, and his marriage was in trouble. On 9 March 1990, Young was inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards' Hall of Fame for "an outstanding and sustained contribution to Australian television."  From 24 October 2006, weekly magazine New Idea featured articles on Byrne's autobiography, Not Quite Ripe, which alleged that from the age of 12 she was introduced to sex, drugs and alcohol on Young Talent Time. The claims were vigorously denied by Young, he stated that Byrne was already 14 when she started and that drugs were not available on set, "Any drug-taking Debra did, she certainly didn't do it on our show." He said no-one on the show was aware of her affair with "Michael", a boom operator ten years her senior. According to Byrne the pair had run off together for a weekend when she was 15. A producer for the show had "Michael" replaced as boom operator. Byrne also claimed that her parents knew of her relationship with "Michael".  In 2009, Young indicated that he was in talks with Network Ten to create an updated version of Young Talent Time. The new series aired on Network Ten from 22 January to 4 May 2012 and was hosted by Rob Mills, with Young serving as executive producer and judge.

Did Johnny do any work in television?

OUT:
Productions also developed Young Talent Time from April 1971, a children's variety show and talent quest with Young as host.