Smoking Banana Peels

[David L. Pelovitz, Ph.D.]

On Mon, 14 Oct 1996, J.D. P. Lafrance wrote:

> RICHARD ROMEO <RR.TFCNY at mail.fdncenter.org>,Internet writes:
> > Leafing thru my recently purchased Mad about the Sixties came across a 
> > Don Martin cartoon which depicts this groovy dude chopping up some 'nanas 
> > peel, ground to fine powder, then stuffing into a little pipe, smoking, 
> > with no effect, gets mad, eyebrows all akinder that Don Martin way, takes 
> > a step, slips on the leftover 'nana peel, hits the back of his head on 
> > the counter, begins to see groovy things about the air, including stars, 
> > wavy clouds, and other fine points of trippiness flight...the myth 
> > continues, now about that nutmeg...
> 
> interestingly enough, a folk-punk band, The Dead Milkmen did a song called
> "Smokin' Banana Peels" in the mid-'80s! very trippy, mondo-bizarro vibe on that
> song too...

It was my understanding that the "smoking bananas" craze in the sixties
started from the Donovan song "Mellow Yellow".  Interesting that Pynchon
has illustrated almost every form of drug use/abuse except this one.

David Pelovitz - pelovitd at gusun.georgetown.edu