Sympathy for the Devil?

New Book About Infamous Redlands Acid King!

This piece is a follow up to my previous blog, ‘Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?’ about the infamous Redlands bust - that saw the arrest of the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and art gallery owner, Robert Fraser – and the involvement of the infamous Acid King, one David Schneiderman. 

To my surprise I recently received an email from an author called Ed Ochs informing me that “You don't have to guess anymore. Everything you ever wanted to know about David Schneiderman is in my new book "Freedom Spy: David Jove and The Meaning of Existence" (Rock Press).” To purchase the book simply click the Amazon link above.

Interest well and truly peaked I rushed off to Amazon and ordered my copy from across the Atlantic. 

Sadly the book delivers very little concerning the Redlands bust, however, one should not hold this against the author as his path did not cross Mr Schneiderman’s, or more correctly, David Jove as he was now known, until a few years after the incidents in West Sussex.

The book, however, presents an extremely interesting story recanting many joint adventures of the author and David Jove whilst in L.A. where David had fled to after having to exit both the U.K. and his native Canada. He appears to have been a talented songwriter and artist who recorded two albums worth of material. Nothing serious could come of his musical aspirations though, as, being a fugitive from the law he had to keep a low profile.

That he managed to do so appears to be something of a miracle and the book tells of many incidents, some funny some alarming, that any sane individual would have avoided like the plague.

Of primary interest to me is the revelation that Schneiderman / Jove was a keen follower of Aleister Crowley and was a member of the Toronto Lodge of the O.T.O.  It is amazing just how many people in the Beatles / Stones orbit of that time were Crowley acolytes – indeed just to strengthen these ties even further, the books tells us that Schneiderman / Jove dedicated his two albums to fellow Crowleyite and film-maker, Kenneth Anger – that I wonder if it was this fact that enabled him to access the Stones inner sanctum initially?

Mr Ochs also informs us that David’s daughter, the violinist Lili Haydn, has performed with the Rolling Stones. I wonder if she mentioned to Keith Richards who her father was? I suspect not!

Jove eventually goes on to achieve some sort of success via a cable t.v. show called New Wave Theatre, before the untimely death of its host, Peter Ivers - some claim Jove may have been involved - before launching the no longer extant website, thewholetruth.com. I don't recall the site, however, it appears he may have been a Canadian version of David Icke.

Schneiderman / Jove died in 2004 and one expects the truth of his involvement in the Redlands bust died with him. However, if you, like me, would like to find out more about the man behind the myth then I highly recommend this book.

To order go to http://www.edochs.com