This week Eric and Lon welcome Prolific paranormal blogger Rick Philips to the show. The first 30 minutes of the interview are choppy due to Skype but the last hour of the interview was excellent with Rick and you don't want to miss it. We are going to get Rick back on the show in May, so a new date will be announced soon. Until then enjoy the podcast with Rick Philips and BTE Radio.

Rick Phillips was born in 1952 in Shamokin PA but lived in Ohio within a year and grew up in Euclid Ohio. His first memory was on the day of his third birthday party while walking outside, and, he had his first `thought in his head', which was `I AM THREE'. His first startling I AM moment. Soon after, his family moved into `the projects' built for the returning GI's after World War 2 and Korea; his dad was a returning Navy man and destined to become a Fireman and eventual President of his firefighters union. His group organizational skills would have a strong influence on Rick - as did his fathers interest in gambling and a full understanding numbers and chance.
Phillips's mother was a young beauty - under twenty when Rick was born and somewhat of a rebel shortly after. Certainly one who spoke her mind as upon seeing her son for the first time at birth, described him to her mother as `ugly, with red hair like you' (the one thing she didn't want was a red haired boy). Phillips never really had red hair - and the dark blond color he had started going gray at 25 and now is nearly fully white in appearance. But, the rebel spirit was certainly imbedded by early influences of his mother such as declaring that `Ricky will not go to Sunday School' - followed fairly quickly by his mother finding `Humanitarianism' as her new religion. She was one of the first to attend a Rock And Roll Show in Cleveland Ohio (another strong Rick Phillips Influence) and one of the first `working mothers' - which quickly lead to her divorce and she and Rick moving elsewhere (4 times in 6 years) all in Euclid. During one of these situations Rick lived with his mother and her parents - including a grandmother that often said about UFOs (in Rick's earliest memories) `Oh, I wish they would land and take me'. When Rick's mother eventually re-married - Rick's political positions would be influenced by his slightly older step-brother returning from Vietnam shot up with shrapnel and addicted to heroin. At about the same time - Rick's mother indicated she and her husband had gotten `high' on pot. Much to handle and think about while 15-17 years of age.
So, perhaps as a result of the above - Phillips followed the path that ultimately would include the strongest of the aforementioned attributes. Indeed, even from the earliest of ages, and awareness, Phillips remembers many possible non-ordinary realities; such as:
Time Distortion as a child when throwing a stone at someone and as the stone went towards the persons back - time slowed down significantly in his perception.
A one time `we won't hurt you' bedroom visitor who instilled sleep movement immobilization and speech immobilization - under age six.
Poltergeist phenomena in home - most likely of the grandfather he was living with at the time of his sudden death when 13 years old.
Automatic writing/Thinking - From 1974-1976 would have to suddenly write concepts he knew nothing about - later to find he was writing Phenomenology ideas similar to Husserl and Sartre when he found those thinkers works. Phillips calls these ideas `The Phillips Phenomenology' and it forms one of his foundations of looking at the anomalous phenomena in the world. He has two blogs that deeply dig into his phenomenology - one called `What Is Not Able To Not Be Is' http://​whatisnotabletonotbeis.blog​spot.com/ and the other is Phillips's main esoteric blog and his first investigations into the worlds Fortean phenomena - it's called `The Heavy Stuff' - http://theheavystuff.com/ .
Telekinesis witness - 1973 with former roommate at Ohio University, Curt Chaplin - the hallway interview guy, of `The People's Court' for the past 15 years. The telekinesis happened at a pre-selected `power spot' and was during extreme talks of Chaplin and Phillips about Carlos Castaneda's first book - The Teachings of Don Juan. Specifically, Chaplin and Phillips were by far MOST interested in the appendix of the book called `The Structural Analysis'. (Have REVERSE related event with John Flower.)
Full blown Missing Time Incident with Two Others - 1986 with intellectual friend John Flower (so intellectual that he was once an actor for an ad in Rolling Stone that called for a `40's bearded intellectual'). The description of what is remembered of the structure of this `time gap' is worth listening to and thinking about. One great post on The Heavy Stuff Phillips wrote was called `The Missing Space of Missing Time Incidents'. Phillips also may have had a `smaller' missing time incident in the mid-70's also.
Controlled Lucid Dreaming - About a dozen times using Carlos Castaneda's technique of `finding ones hands' in a dream and then setting up a phenomenology there. Phillips describes this reality state as totally unique.
Close Up UFO Sighting - 1991 - Very close sighting with a great background story. Ultimately, this has led Phillips to be a near daily UFO blogger. His highest rated (Alexa) blog is called UFO Disclosure Countdown Clock - http://​ufodisclosurecountdownclock​.blogspot.com/ started in 2007 and put into near daily full gear since 2010 and now with over 450 posts.
But, all of the above - has been fed into the mind of Phillips - which also has had `interesting experiences' beyond the near automatic esoteric phenomenology writing (BTW, most of Phillips's blogs are indeed just that type of approach.) Most of those `outside influences' came as the result of exposure to some of the best thinkers of `un-natural things' - Such as Ouspenski and Gurdijeff, -- when in the mid 1970's - Phillips attended along with J.Flower some `4th Way' Meetings; barely skirting the `higher awareness' cultlike folk they met at the meetings. Nonetheless, Phillips found and finds the awareness teachings of The 4th Way extremely powerful in being aware of mental processes.
Phillips' mind was also influenced by the full range of drug experiences available in the 1970's - including even prolonged Nitrous Oxide usage. He has also been a lifelong advocate for marijuana as an alternative to alcohol - even marching (some would say leading at one point) with July 4th protesters in Washington D.C. in 1979 - ending up hanging on the White House picket fence and getting run off by DC Cops. He continues his advocacy and showcases his politics at two blogs including `Barf Stew' and `Real Heavy Politics'.
In his business career, Phillips has done marketing research, both qualitative and quantitative for some of America's biggest companies and did one-on-one and focus group research, as the moderator, on new products decades ago - that are used in everyday life today. His business bio can be found here http://​streetlevelviews.com/5.html. Indeed, eventually when Phillips moved into doing Restaurant Trade Area Research as a recognized expert - clients would be making million dollar decisions based on his recommendations.
The ultimate result of all the above is an engaging speaker with possible insights and definite opinions that are often unique. Phillips also has contributed to a new book about to be released in 2012 by Robert Cheatham called Materialization's and Manifestations (UFO Drag Queen) - who has gathered bloggers such as Phillips, Bruce Duensing and Eric Kuersten all of whom can be found on Phillips's Esoteric Blog called `The C Influence' -- Oh, BTW, Lon Strickler also is a contributor to TCI.
Phillips has also appeared on internet radio shows such as L. A. Marzulli's, and the UK show `Now That's Weird', and, is also considering using some of the posts of his blogs as a basis for a solo book project.