Well it's about time I say something I guess. First time I heard Orb would have been around 92. My buddy had a tape of ABTU. At the time, I was just waking up from American Top 40 land into the world of Metallica, Megadeath, Judas Priest, Suicidal Tendancies, etc (which turned into Nine Inch Nails and Ministry thanks to the same friend). To me 'techno' was all lame boom boom boom crap with some piano chops thrown on top. The Orb is what turned me on to what techno could really be. It was down in my friend's basement, where he had his bedroom cut off from sunlight with garbage bags over the windows. I mostly remember the variety of music coming off of this one tape, and I kept forgetting that it was all the same group. It just went on and on, from dancy fluffy clouds to darkly religious earth to upbeat spanish castles to reggae perpetual dawn to spacey AHEGPB. Blew me away. It was a little while later another friend played U.F.Orb for me, and I'm embarrassed to say that at the time I wasn't impressed (one of my favourites now). It just didn't have the variety of my first experience, it was sliding back into what I thought of at the time as 'techno'. But soon after that I went out and got a double cassette of live 93, and that was the hook. I could no longer escape. Now for my most memorable orb experience - it would be Pomme Fritz. I remember taking a trip down to the city to get it (hour and a half to Vancouver BC), and dropping some acid on the way back. Me and half a dozen of my friends. We got back to my buddy's place, and we were just starting to get tingles. I popped in the CD. We all sat back and didn't say a word for the whole CD. I hadn't had a clue what to expect. It was the weirdest shit I had ever heard, and hearing it for the first time while peaking was mind bending. Probably even more for some of my friends who hadn't heard of the Orb before and weren't into 'techno'. That will always stick with me as one of my best acid trips, sitting back being overwhelmed by the lunacy coming out of the speakers, looking around and seeing everyone else experiencing basically the same thing. We were all shell shocked after that, but it went on to be a good fun trip. Those were the days when I had a steady supply of the nicest liquid, it would come in food colouring vials. It's been years since I've done any, but I'd do it again - if someone I trust told me it was good. These days I mostly just stick to the herb, plus the odd case or 3 of Molson Candian (that's beer for all you deprived people out there in the wide wide world, especially you poor poor yanks). Once or twice a year maybe a little psylocibin. Nothing like the glory days of my high school/technical institute days, when i was on a mission to try everything. Now I have a real job and a house and bills to pay. I'm not grown up (well, I'm 27), but I'm doing a good job of pretending, I think. Anyway, this is long enough. I think that covers all 3 for me: magic moment, my age, and me n' drugs. ps any of you gone and looked at that place tbrnews.org whot thrash posted about? scary shit man. i hate g dubya, and i think it's sad that the israeli's can't see the similarity between the warsaw ghetto in wwii and the west bank today, but i don't buy all that jewish conspiracy bullshit, and i cringe when i come accross a list of 'that guy's a jew, and that guy's a jew too!!'. i suggest that you forget all about that site thrash. it's sick shit. i'm surprised nobody else had anything to say about it, i guess nobody bothered reading it. anyway, i'm all for open debate, and i don't like people who scream anti-semitism as an involuntary reflex action any time someone criticizes israel, but that tbrnews.org place just goes too far, IMHO. just had to say somefin.